Former Staten Island resident Lawrence J. De Maria has penned "Sound of Blood," his first thriller

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Mention the name Lawrence De Maria and one conjures up images of U.S. Marine, award-winning journalist, private-industry account executive — not to mention a devoted husband and dad — and, as of late, author of “Sound of Blood,” his first thriller featuring Jake Scarne, a rogue cop turned private eye.

A Renaissance man of sorts, De Maria recounts it has always been his desire to pen a novel.

Why not? After all, he’s been writing all of his life and throughout his career has met and interacted with a slew of fascinating individuals — to put it mildly — many of whom became the inspiration for his latest work.

To say the former president of the Staten Island Chamber of Commerce has worn a lot of hats is somewhat of an understatement: He covered the stock market and real estate beats at the New York Times and headed the Times’ Pulitzer-nominated market coverage during the 1987 stock market crash, wrote hundreds of stories — many for page 1 — and in so doing faced some unsavory characters in this country, South America and in the Caribbean. But lest we forget that De Maria, realistically speaking, got his start as a reporter with the Staten Island Advance.

De Maria exclaims that, throughout the years, everyone’s question was always “why don’t you consider writing a novel?” And since De Maria knew heaps about financial scams and was a fan of thriller novels by Ian Fleming and Robert Parker, he simply took his cue from there.

After some six months of writing, De Maria went the traditional route of getting an agent and chose to rewrite the book — it’s in longer form now — and had it edited.

“I wanted Jake Scarne to be human,” says De Maria, “with a back story that contained some tragedy, but some triumph as well. He has a temper — just ask the city councilman he held by the heels from a City Hall balcony.

“He cuts corners to get the job done, drinks a little too much, likes to gamble and is a sucker for dangerous women,” says he.

The mystery novel mixes sex and mayhem with financial chicanery, he adds.

“Some of the financial frauds I created, hoping they weren’t too ridiculous, have actually occurred in the interim,” says De Maria.

“Incredibly, there have been some schemes uncovered that even I couldn’t dream up, and I have a pretty weird imagination,” he adds.

As for locales that prove unhealthy for a variety of good and bad guys: New York City, Argentina, Seattle, Miami, Georgia, Antigua and the Florida Keys.

The former Staten Island resident now lives full time in Naples, Fla., with his wife, the former Patricia Tighe of New Brighton, who is one of 12 children. The couple has two sons, Larry, a senior vice president and co-head of infrastructure research at William Blair & Co., and Chris, who works in Hollywood, where he helps produce commercials and makes his own short films — one of which won an award at the Staten Island Film Festival. Chris writes screenplays, including one based on his dad’s novel, in which they collaborated.

There’s something for everyone in “Sound of Blood,” including a powerful love story.

“It didn’t start out that way. But, like most authors, I wound up falling in love with the characters. So it seemed natural that they’d fall in love with each other. It’s almost like I didn’t write those scenes. They did,” De Maria continues.

What about the startling ending? “They wrote that themselves, too,” says he.

Piqued your interest? “The Sound of Blood” may be purchased online at Amazon.com, at Barnes & Noble.com or at www.lawrencedemaria.com. CELEBRATIONS